The Federal House of Representatives is considering revoking the ban on the disposal of overtime cargoes at the country’s ports, and its Joint Committee on Finance, Marine Services and Transport which was mandated to investigate port congestion has assured that, if by Tuesday next week, the originating authority of the directive to the ban cannot be ascertained, the ban would be immediately reversed.
The committee also commenced investigations into ascertaining the exact loss of the nation to port congestion, disclosing that 926 containers have been classified as overtime cargoes while 2,115 containers have already been gazetted.
Already, the Ministry of Finance, the Presidential Committee on Port Reforms and a stakeholder group have been directed to furnish the committee with an estimated loss of revenue since the ban was imposed in October 2011.
The lawmakers reached the decisions on Thursday at a public hearing on congestion of ports, after it was revealed that the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) was directed to stop the disposal of the overtime cargo through a directive in 2011.
However, when it became obvious that neither the Ministry of Finance, the Presidential Committee on Port Reforms nor the NCS was ready to own up to the origin of the directive, the committee requested them to produce the document by next Tuesday.
Lead Chairman of the Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin pointed out that it was obvious that the ban on disposal of overtime cargoes contributed largely to port congestion.
“It is expected that whoever gave the directive ought to have weighed all the options and the consequences on the nation’s economy before taking that decision,” he said. “From what has been presented here so far, it is obvious that the nation has been losing huge revenues.”
The committee also expressed surprise when it was revealed that cargoes stayed more than required days stipulated by law, before being classified as overtime cargo. While the laws stipulate 28 days for cargoes to be declared overtime, the system was actually working on 90 days.
The committee blamed the complacency on Customs for its inability to apply its powers to design definite overtime cargo policy.
In his presentation, Chairman, Presidential Committee on port Reform, Professor Sylvester Monye blamed shippers and importers for the rot in the nation’s port, saying “An average importer is a fraud because they make under-declaration from beginning to the end just to evade payment of legal levies.”
On his part, Assistant Comptroller General of NIS, Yusuf Umar, who represented the Comptroller General of NCS, also corroborated the submission of Prof. Monye that the business environment at the ports was highly compromised.
“We operate in a non-compliant environment. Most importers don’t make honest declarations, so we need to improve if we want the desired speed in clearance of cargoes at our ports,” he advised.
